For every hot-headed new Pokemon trainer, there is an equally hot-headed Fire-type starter to join them on their journey. While there have been many iterations of Fire-type starters (and not many type combos), some are clearly better than others. They could be ranked and compared based on straight numbers and stats, most people pick their starters off gut feelings.

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Fire Pokemon, as a whole, are incredibly popular, and the starters share in that popularity. Over the course of eight generations, Pokemon has given young trainers the option to select from an impressive collection of Fire-types, but which one is the best?

Updated November 28, 2022, by Suzail Ahmad: In the last few years, Game Freak has constantly released new Pokemon games. In 2018, the developers released Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! It was followed by the release of Pokemon Sword and Shield in 2019 and then Legends Arceus in early 2022. In November 2022, Game Freak finally dropped the much-awaited Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Despite the ungodly amount of glitches and other issues present, the game has managed to shatter all the previous sales records, making it a commercial success. These are early days, so the numbers will increase even more once they fix the issues. The release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet also means that players get an opportunity to look at fresh starters, including a brand-new Fire starter.

9 Tepig

• According to Pokemon Black, "It can deftly dodge its foe's attacks while shooting fireballs from its nose. It roasts berries before it eats them."
• Best Nature: Adamant

The Unova region does not have very good starter Pokemon, including the fire pig, Tepig. Pigs are many things, but animals related to fire are not one of them. Beyond that, the evolutions just lead to swole firey pigs that punch stuff. As nearly half of the fire starters, Emboar is a Fire/fighting Pokemon because that's just what fire starters should be according to Game Freak. Tepig and its evolutions are boring and pretty uninteresting compared to all the other fire starters.

Despite all this, you might still pick Tepig as your starter in the Unova region because the other two options are just as lame. Unfortunately, for Pokemon Black and Black 2, White and White 2, all three starter options are extremely lackluster.

Weakness: Tepig and its evolutions are weak to Ground, Water, Flying, and Psychic type attacks

8 Fennekin

• According to Pokemon Y, "As it walks, it munches on a twig in place of a snack. It intimidates opponents by puffing hot air out of its ears."
• Best Nature: Timid

The Kalos region fire starter Fennekin takes some risks with the fire starter by not being a Fire/fighting-type, but it misses the mark with its design. Fennekin is a fox Pokemon that evolves into a *checks notes* fox wizard Pokemon Delphox. Seriously, it has a magic wand (wood stick) and all, it's really strange.

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Pokemon has had plenty of downright strange designs, but having a starter this bizarre is off-putting. While Fire/Psychic is a type that doesn't get used much, the creativity there is undermined by the Harry Potter cosplay in Fennekin's final form.

Weakness: Fennekin can be easily taken down by using Ground, Ghost, Water, Dark, and Rock-type moves.

7 Chimchar

• According to Pokemon Diamond, "It agilely scales sheer cliffs to live atop craggy mountains. Its fire is put out when it sleeps."
• Best Nature: Adamant

Chimchar is a strong Fire-type starter and monkeys are cool, but Chimchar is easily the worst starter in the Sinnoh region, with Piplup and Turtwig both having cooler designs for all three levels of evolution. Infernape also is just Blaziken with the chicken replaced with a monkey. That complaint could be made with other starters but not as accurately.

On top of that, Infernape would be much cooler if he was a larger ape as opposed to a skinnier chimpanzee-type animal. Chimchar is great, but he's not as great as some other starters. Infernape also gets some knocks against it for once again being a Fire/fighting Pokemon.

Weakness: This Pokemon can be defeated easily by using Ground, Water, Flying, and Psychic-type moves.

6 Fuecoco

• According to Pokemon Scarlet, "It lies on warm rocks and uses the heat absorbed by its square-shaped scales to create fire energy."
• Best Nature: Modest

Fuecoco is the fire starter from the Paldea region, and it is a very adorable Pokemon. It is a crocodilian Pokemon that can sway any trainer's heart with its antics. Players who wanted a different version of Totodile will fall in love with this Pokemon right away.

Fuecoco has two evolutions; the first is Crocalor and the second is Skeledirge. The final evolution of Fuecoco is a Fire/Ghost-type Pokemon, which means it is the second consecutive Pokemon game where the fire starter eventually evolves into a Fire/Ghost-type Pokemon (the first one being Pokemon Legends Arceus).

Weakness: The Pokemon is weak to Ground, Ghost, Water, Dark, and Rock-type moves.

5 Charmander

• According to Pokemon Red, "Obviously prefers hot places. When it rains, steam is said to spout from the tip of its tail."
• Best Nature: Timid

The salamander-turned-dragon (but not actually a dragon but sometimes a dragon) Charmander is the forefather of the Fire-type starters. Its final evolution of Charizard is one of the most popular and most recognizable Pokemon because everybody loves a fire-breathing dragon.

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It is bizarre that he isn't actually Dragon-type (the X mega evolution is a bandage over a never-healing wound), but, instead Fire/Flying, he is pretty awesome all the same. The salamander is also the only animal that the fire starters are based on that makes some sense, but even relating the salamander to fire is a stretch in logic, though still a solid attempt all the same.

Weakness: Due to Charizard being a Flying-type, Ground-type attacks are useless against it. So, it can only be taken down by using Electric, Rock, and Water based moves.

4 Cyndaquil

• According to Pokemon Gold, "Hails from the Johto region. Though usually curled into a ball due to its timid disposition, it harbors tremendous firepower."
• Best Nature: Modest

The Johto region has one of the better trios of starters and Cyndaquil is a top-tier starter. Cydaquil is based on porcupines? Unclear, but the little fireball is pretty cool. His final evolution also has one of the best names of any Pokemon, Typhlosion. The name just runs right off the tongue. He is a large firey beast, not quite as large as Feraligatr, but is still an intimidating size.

Cyndaquil also nails the transition from adorable to menacing without making any leaps in logic like some other fire starters. Cyndaquil also receives the added benefit of being a starter in some of the more popular games in the series, which in turn makes it a more popular choice as a starter. Cyndaquil also serves as the Fire-type starter for Pokemon Legends: Arceus, ultimately evolving into the Hisuian version of Typhlosion that is a Fire/Ghost-type

Weakness: Normal Typholosion is weak to Water, Ground, and Rock-type moves. The Hisuian version's typing adds two more weaknesses- Ghost and Dark type.

3 Litten

• According to Pokemon Sun, "While grooming itself, it builds up fur inside its stomach. It sets the fur alight and spews fiery attacks, which change based on how it coughs."
• Best Nature: Adamant

This cat-inspired Pokemon is available to trainers in Pokemon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon. The hair it collects by cleaning its fur provides it to spit fireballs. It has the hidden ability of Intimidation and comes from Generation 7 of Pokemon.

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Litten is from the Alola region and can transform into Torracat at level 17 and then into Incineroar at level 34. With a total of 320, Litten has the strongest stats of all the fire starters available to this date. For its evolutions, Incineroar feels like it was going to be a Fire/Fighting Dual-type until Game Freak felt like people would be upset if they did that again. So, this WWE wrestler disguised as a large house cat is somehow a Fire/Dark-type. It's understandable that Incineroar isn't a Fire/Fighting-type, but it feels like a forced concession and not a design choice.

Weakness: It can be defeated effectively by using Water, Ground, Rock and Fighting-type moves.

2 Scorbunny

• According to Pokemon Shield, "It has special pads on the backs of its feet, and one on its nose. Once it's raring to fight, these pads radiate tremendous heat."
• Best Nature: Jolly

Scorbunny is the latest addition to the Pokemon starters. Fans can get this rabbit-like Pokemon in Sword & Shield set in the Galar region. To have a Scorbunny, one must receive it from Leon, the Champion of Galar.

This Pokemon is filled with energy and is often seen running around. Like the others, it also shares the same resistance and weaknesses to certain types, but it is placed second because of its high Attack stat. Scorbunny evolves into Raboot at level 16, and into Cinderace at level 35, the latter of which is a soccer-themed bunny with a satisfying design. As a standard Fire-type, Cinderace is a solid option for Generation 8 players.

Weakness: As a Fire-type Pokemon with no additional type, Cinderace can be beaten by using Water, Ground and Rock-type attacks.

1 Torchic

• According to Pokemon Ruby, "Torchic sticks with its Trainer, following behind with unsteady steps. This Pokémon breathes fire of over 1,800 degrees F, including fireballs that leave the foe scorched black."
• Best Nature: Adamant

Chickens don't necessarily inspire the most fear or the coolest style and yet, the Torchic evolution line is way better than whatever thoughts fire chicken inspire. Torchic is one of the simpler starters, just being an orange chick, but the simplicity adds to what is to come.

Like many birds, the starting chick can be wildly different from the final bird. Combusken, the mid-evolution, looks like a chicken that knows Kung-Fu. While the Fire/fighting Dual-type is overdone, Torchic's line did it first. Blaziken is this humanoid bird fighting machine that is an unexpected natural evolution from Combusken. Blaziken also has an attitude about it that gives off an intimidation factor that some of the more recent games' starter evolution lines have failed to achieve. Blaziken exists with unspoken confidence.

Weakness: Despite being an outstanding Pokemon, Blaziken too has its weaknesses and they are: Ground, Flying, Water, and Psychic.

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